THE WOKIJWB^ffRGY Al^D ITS 

 SELF-CONSERVATION. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. ELEMENTS AND CONDITIONS OF KNOWL- 

 EDGE. 



a. FACT AND THEORY. 



POPULAR convictions have ever tended toward com- 

 pact embodiment in the form of maxims. Nor in 

 truth is this anything else than the inevitable outcome 

 of the inherent demand of the mind for definition, clear 

 formulation. There is nothing really surprising, there- 

 fore, in the fact that examples of this tendency present 

 themselves in the scientific world no less than in the 

 world of every-day affairs. 



There is one maxim, indeed, that has found special 

 favor among men of science. No other has, in fact, 

 been received more widely or with less question. This 

 favorite maxim commonly runs thus: " Facts rather 

 than theories." In other words, in all investigations, 

 whether in the physical world or in the world of mind, 

 one ought always to put his trust in facts rather than 

 in theories. The latter are always to be distrusted. 

 The former alone can safely be relied upon. 



i 



